Playoff Dream Ends

For the second straight year the Buffalo Bisons will not be in the IL postseason. Last nights 3-0 gave the wild card to the Richmond Braves. This is the first time since 1993 -1994 that the Bisons have missed the playoffs for consecutive seasons, and the first time since the Bisons have been an Indians farm club.

So what went wrong this season. First Hector Luna went wrong. He was a guy who did not want to be in Buffalo, and showed it with his lackluster play and countless errors. About the time the Tribe dumbed him, the Bisons started winning. Pitching was another problem. Adam Miller the teams ace could not stay healthy, Carmona never pitched a game in Buffalo, not that he should have seeing his success in Cleveland. Jeremy Sowers pitched as bad in Buffalo as he did in Cleveland, and could be looking at starting in Akron next season. All the retreads that Cleveland brought in like Jeff Harris, Eric Dubois, Sean Smith and John Kronika would have a good start and some bad starts.

A huge problem was the Bisons struck out like a home run hitting team, yet their leader Ryan Mulhern has only 18. They would consistently struck out 10 times or more a game, which will not get you wins at this level of baseball. Add in Rivas and Rouse's bad fielding and you have a pretty average team.

But their were lots of positives too. Ben Francisco played well in his time in Buffalo, and should not have to come back again. Adam Miller got off to a great start, and showed he has the stuff to be a great pitcher. The Bisons trailed the Paw Sox buy eight runs in the bottom of the seventh in seven inning game, and scored eight runs to win it, and still only had one out. The 20 year celebration at the ballpark was amazing, bring back lots of memories. Attendance was down in people through the turnstiles, but up in average because of so many rain outs. Actually the Bisons are second in the IL in attendance.

So this afternoon will be the last game of the year in Rochester, and I will be there as I have been the last three nights.